Chapter Seventeen: Rescuing Lianxiang

  Zhou Shiming and others stayed at the inn. After finishing dinner, washing up, and preparing to go to the toilet, he was about to sleep early. However, when he passed by the door of a guest room in the inn, he was attracted by the conversation coming from inside...

  "This time you've brought back some truly top-notch goods, they'll definitely sell for a sky-high price!"

  "This way, no need to beautify it, just sell it directly, and soon there will be a buyer. If we really can't find a buyer tonight, then send it into the kiln, but that would be a pity, and we won't get a good price..."

  "You'd better go out and take a look around, try to find a buyer as soon as possible."

  "Alright, how about sending a few more people?"

  "You deal with it yourself..."

  Upon hearing the conversation in the house, Zhou Shiming suddenly understood that they were human traffickers. If this girl is sold out, she will fall into a fire pit! Thinking of this, he burst in. The two were startled and asked: "What do you want to do? Why did you come in without knocking on the door?"

  Zhou Shiming clasped his hands together in a fist, "You two gentlemen, if your goods are truly top-notch, I'll buy them at a high price."

  "Really? Hehe, I knew it. With her beauty, I knew it wouldn't take long for a buyer to come knocking on the door. What price are you planning to ask?" said a middle-aged man with a pockmarked face.

  "Fifty taels of silver!" replied Zhou Zhuang's master curtly.

  The two of them exchanged a glance, and another person excitedly said: "Alright, deal! Give us the address, and we'll deliver the 'goods' to you right away."

  "Main building guest house, 206 rooms."

  "Alright, one hand with the money and the other with the goods. Half an hour later, inspect the goods, how about it?" said the middle-aged man with a pockmarked face.

  "Alright." With that, Master Zhou left and returned to his own room.

  To prevent any unexpected situation from happening, he hastily ordered his several attendants to get ready and be prepared for the unexpected. Everything was ready, and Zhou Shiming came to room 206 to wait...

  Less than half a time, I heard the door "thud thud......" someone knocking.

  "Who is it?" A house servant said while opening the door.

  "I'm looking for the owner of this room." A stranger standing outside the door said after carefully sizing up the house servant.

  "Alright, just wait a moment!" The house servant said.

  "Who are you?" Zhou Shiming looked at him and saw that he was a stranger, not one of the two people he had seen before, so he asked in confusion.

  "Brother, the top-quality girl you bought, I've already sent her over." He said in a low voice.

  "Bring it up to my room." said Zhou Shiming, the owner of the manor, in a careless tone.

  The man retreated, and in a short while, two people carried in an ornate box the size of a coffin. "This is fifty taels of silver, take it." Zhou Zhuang's master personally took out fifty taels of silver and handed it to the person who came. The two men left happily...

  After ordering the servant out, Master Zhou opened the box. A look of surprise hung on his face, and he immediately furrowed his brow. Inside the box was the girl who had hitched a ride with him today. Her raven-black hair had come undone, and some of her soft, silky locks lay on her smooth shoulders... The girl's long eyelashes fluttered as she realized she was lying down. She quickly opened her eyes and stood up, then suddenly pulled out a shiny, small dagger from who-knows-where and pointed it at the person in front of her...

  The two of them furrowed their brows and looked at each other simultaneously.

  "Who are you? What is this place?" the girl asked loudly.

  “……I thought someone was going to take advantage of me and kill me, it seems you don't know the truth either!” Zhou Shiming faced the dagger in front of him without tension or surprise, as if it were natural for this girl to pull out a defensive weapon. He ignored the dagger pointing at him and walked into the box to tear off a note stuck inside. He took a look and handed the note to the girl. The girl held the dagger tightly with one hand and accepted the note with the other. After reading it, she slowly put down the dagger, but her vigilance remained high. The note read: "Brother, this is a top-quality item, with good looks and figure. Since you spent a lot of money, I've packaged one for you. Don't worry, she's clean."

  "Girl, how did you end up in someone's trunk?" Zhou Zhuang master joked, "This time if I hadn't coincidentally run into the human trafficker and rescued you, you would have been in big trouble."

  The girl seemed to understand the reason behind it, and tears suddenly flowed out.

  She had left Zhou Zhuang's side and was walking alone on the street. The pedestrians on the street gradually dispersed. When she walked to a small alley, several thugs suddenly came out of the alley. Before she could take out her dagger to counterattack, several people came up and tied her hands behind her back, covering her mouth and nose, and she immediately fell into a deep sleep...

  Upon hearing this, Master Zhou Shi comforted the girl and asked her why she was walking alone outside.

  The girl let out a long sigh and told her story. Her name was Sun Lianxiang, 20 years old, from a landlord's family near the Great Wall. Due to the continuous battles inside and outside the Great Wall, the military power was strong, and in order to seek protection, her family wanted to marry her off to a military leader. This leader was notorious for his evil deeds, so she ran away from home to escape the marriage, after going through countless hardships and finally arrived here, only to encounter human traffickers again...

  Zhou Shiming sympathized with the girl's experience and asked: "What are your plans for the future, miss?"

  Xun Lianxiang let out a long sigh, tears gushing like a spring: "The misty waves of the Chu River are vast, the sky is vast and I can roam freely; I walk with the wind, and when the wind passes, all the flowers fall! The fallen flowers sink into the deep valley, no one asks about them, and in the red dust, dreams revolve repeatedly! Gained, bewildered; Lost, wandering! Life in the world is not as one wishes, but I will talk and laugh, dancing in the vastness of the universe..."

  He heard the girl's poetic words, and before his eyes appeared a lonely leaf drifting aimlessly in the wind, without a fixed abode, and he couldn't help but feel sorrowful like her...

  After a while, he finally calmed down and said to her with deep feeling: "If you don't mind, follow me to my humble abode for a temporary stay. When the time is right, I will send someone to escort you back home. What do you think?"

  The girl listened, extremely grateful: "You've helped me twice, I can tell you're a good person, a kind person. Meeting you is my good fortune. Here, I'll give you a bow." The girl gave Zhou Shiming a deep bow. Zhou Shiming quickly helped her up, "Miss, please don't do this, hurry and get up, hurry and get up!"

  Thus, Sun Lianxiang followed Zhou Shiming back to the Zhou family home, and later the two fell in love over time. Zhou Shiming married her as his fourth wife.

  Memories of the past flooded Zhou Shiming's mind, making him feel overwhelmed with emotions. "Year after year, flowers bloom and wither, but people change with each passing year." Time flies like a galloping river, leaving behind countless people who become mere passersby in life. Flowers bloom only to fall, and in the end, nothing is certain... As he thought about this, a wave of inexplicable sorrow washed over his heart.

  Zhou Shiming walked into the room of Fourth Madam Sun Lianxiang. The fourth madam was delighted to see her husband enter the room and hastily got up to greet him.

  "What's going on?" Zhou Zhuang walked up to the table and asked.

  "In embroidery, sir." The fourth wife smiled all over her face.

  "What's so good about it, why are you so happy?" Zhou Shiming asked.

  "Master has arrived, how can I not be delighted? It's been a long time since Master last came to my house." The fourth wife said with a blush.

  "Recently, there have been a lot of things going on at home and I'm feeling really frustrated!" Zhou Shiming said helplessly, pacing back and forth in the room.

  "Sir, you have something on your mind that you can talk about, maybe I can help you relieve it." The fourth lady comforted him.

  "This matter, I'm afraid you can't help much." He said as he walked to the water vat and looked inside, "The vat is almost out of water, didn't they send someone to fetch water?"

  "I haven't even had a chance to call yet. Lately, with all the washing and scrubbing, we've been using a lot of water." The fourth wife said as she poured tea for the old master.

  "Is it Ma San Gunzi who is responsible for delivering water to you?" asked the old master.

  "What's wrong?" The second lady looked up at Zhou Shiming.

  "Nothing. How long has it been since I last brought you water?" The old man seemed a bit curious.

  "Yesterday he came once and never showed up again. This guy, if you don't call him, he won't come, sigh!" Fourth Madam sighed, seemingly a bit dissatisfied with Ma San Gunzi.

  "What's Ma San like?" Zhou Shiming continued to ask.

  "This person, looks very honest, doesn't like to talk much, as for other things I don't understand. It's just that sometimes when doing things, he is careless and clumsy. One time, he even broke my water bucket, almost soaking all the things in my room..." Fourth Madam said while embroidering flowers and talking to Zhou Shiming.

  "Ma San Gunzi is not reliable in doing things, often makes mistakes, and his behavior is strange. I sent him back...". Mr. Zhou said while observing the expression of the fourth wife.

  The fourth wife embroidered flowers with a calm expression, seemingly indifferent to the matter. "Whatever Master does must have his reasons, I'll just follow Master's instructions."

  "Then just send someone else to deliver water for you... Alright, I don't have anything else to do, I'll leave..." Zhou Shiming said as he walked towards the door. The fourth wife got up to see him off.